‘The Bar Council has reacted to the Ministry of Justice’s LASPO Part 1 review, published today. Richard Atkins QC, Chair of the Bar Council, said: “The Bar Council is disappointed with the Government’s post-implementation review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (“LASPO”), published today. When the Bar Council gave evidence to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) last year on the impact of the LASPO cuts to legal aid we identified five priorities to help reverse the decline in legal aid provision over almost six years. (See notes to editors). Few have been addressed.” ‘

‘It may seem somewhat Dickensian that an unmarried parent would be ineligible for social benefits as a widow/er upon the death of their partner and co-parent, but that was the situation created by the legislation challenged in Re Siobhan McLaughlin for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland) [2018] UKSC 48 (Lady Hale, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr, Lord Hodge and Lady Black). The issue under scrutiny was entitlement to widowed parent’s entitlement (WPA). WPA is a contributory social security benefit payable to parents of dependent children who are widowed; but, at the time of the claim, a widowed parent was only eligible for WPA if at the time of the death, s/he was married to, or the civil partner of, the deceased [para 1 of the judgment]. The appellant, who had four dependent children with her deceased partner, but had never married him, argued that this requirement discriminated against the survivor and/or the children on the basis of their marital or birth status, contrary to ECHR, art 14. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal majority of 4 to 1 (Lord Hodge dissenting) and made a declaration that s 39A is incompatible with ECHR, art 14 read with art 8, insofar as it precludes any entitlement to WPA by a surviving unmarried partner of the deceased.’

‘The UK benefits system’s Disability Living Allowance (DLA) has been designed to support people living with disabilities – but handouts may be unfairly benefiting claimants with physical injuries over those with mental illnesses.’

‘A repeatedly convicted landlord, ruled unfit to rent out property in a north London borough in 2015, has since received more than £500,000 in housing benefit payments from the same council that banned him. The discovery that a local authority is directly paying public money to a landlord its own officers describe as “rogue” is the latest example of the ineffective regulations designed to police the private rented sector’s worst offenders.’

‘The Ministry of Justice says its delayed review of the impact of its controversial legal aid reforms is nearly done after publishing a table showing an alarming drop in the number of people who have been granted public funding in welfare benefits cases over the last decade.’

‘R (Johnson, Woods, Barrett and Stewart) v SSWP CO/1552/2018 (11 January 2019) – this case was brought by four social security claimants contesting the proper method of calculating the amount of universal credit payable to each claimant under the Universal Credit Regulations 2013. Singh LJ and Lewis J concluded that treating claimants as having “earned” twice as much as they do if they happen to be paid twice within one monthly assessment period is “odd in the extreme” [para 54] and “…. could be said to lead to nonsensical situations” [para 55].’

‘Four women have launched a high court legal challenge to universal credit, arguing that an arbitrary design flaw in the payment system for the new benefit is “irrational and discriminatory” and leaves some families hundreds of pounds a year worse off.’

‘More than a thousand carers face being prosecuted for fraud as the government attempts to claw back overpayments to people who have been looking after sick and elderly relatives from the poorest communities, the Guardian has been told.’